Thursday, January 29, 2015

Bath Time Fun

Noah has really been enjoying bath time lately refusing to leave when it's time to get out.  He just really loves being in the water.  He lays down so the water covers his ears and most of his body and looks around at all the bath toys around him.  He's even gotten good enough to lay down and get up in the water by himself without sliding all over the place.

It's so nice to just sit back and watch him do his thing. It gives me a good fifteen minutes of peace.  Although peace I suppose includes hearing all the giggles.

Last night we pulled out some bath paints from the target dollar section and went to town.  We've done a similar paint before but was still a little leery of what was going on. He eventually got into it especially rubbing the paints all over his legs and arms.


Lucky for me they were super easy to clean off.  We just wiped them down with a little water and down the drain they went. I rarely have my phone with me while I'm the bath, you know, water and toddler hands scare me a little, so when I pulled it out to take a picture Noah couldn't not be a part of it.  Little cutie.  I say, "blow me a kiss!" and like that we got the cutest pictures ever.


...and another night down for this mama. Success!

Monday, January 26, 2015

Day off at the Downtown Market

It's a good day when you and your husband finally have a day off work together. And we made the most of it by getting out of the house and exploring our city.  Last year they built a huge outdoor/indoor farmers market which we visit here and there.  In the summer we love fresh food and they even have cool vendors that sell home-made breads and pizza doughnuts etc, so every now and then we'll pick up something new to try at dinner.  (And don't even get me started on their amazing doughnuts holes, Yum!) Of course in the winter they don't have all the outdoor vendors but they're still open for business on the inside and they have just as many fun things to try. The only downside is that items are a little pricey, but getting a thing or two once in a while is doable and almost always really yummy.

Most of the time I tend to get a chocolate croissant but opted for a ham and cheese one to share with Noah.  Of course when I offered him some he wanted no part in it. I ate it all, it was amazing. We debated getting a leg of lamb as Jeff likes to try to cook new meats but decided on waiting until we have a good plan for cooking it.  We settled on some smoothies and best of all a wheat grass shot to top it off. They kind of had me sold after the picture that stated a single shot had four pounds worth of veggies.  This girl hates veggies and it was so worth it! Plus, it could all be in my head but I felt much more energetic the rest of the day.  ...I should consider eating more greens... I really should.


I let Noah try a little but he wasn't impressed.  I didn't think it tasted all that bad although for the rest of the day, every time I burped I tasted a little grass. Pros and cons I suppose.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Childrens Museum and Mommy Day Care

The last couple of days have been pretty much all me and Noah.  Jeff has been working lots of overtime and taking training for work which is pretty much like a college class leaving a lot of quality time for Noah and I to do some fun activities.  On Wednesday we went to the Children's Museum downtown Grand Rapids and spend all morning running around looking at new things.  I pretty much didn't have to do much to entertain Noah and was able to kind of hang out and watch him have fun. This first picture is so funny to me because Noah pretty much kicked out some older girls from this area by doing his own thing and putting random colors in the rainbow.  The girls weren't all too pleased and left.  No worries Noah, you do your own thing!


We spent most of the time in the kitchen of course.  Not really a huge surprise but it was sure nice to have a kitchen that fit him.  He would put the food in the pots and pans and shake them up and take the food back out and do it again.  The other hit of course was the computer which he loved.  Noah is just like his mother for sure.

When we got home it was way past Noah's naptime.  Lucky for me I kept him up on the way back with some snacks, so when we got home he went straight for a nap... and slept three hours.  It made the day go by quick and I think Noah had a great time playing with all the new toys. 

Thursday, January 22, 2015

House Update - Primed and Ready for Fun

Jeff and I stopped over at the house this last weekend and I was surprised to see what a big difference it makes when the walls are primed.  It was so bright and open and it's just begging to get finished up.  The siding was also almost up.  The front is the last thing to go up with some trim around the windows.  The final step will be some stone and then I can start imagining where all the landscaping will go.


Next up this week they will be delivering our cabinetry for the house and installing all the trim you see in the picture above.  We haven't yet gotten an updated e-mail with what else they'll be working on but it's getting that much closer to all the fun stuff.  Today we have a walk-through with the closet guy to settle on the pantry and closets in the house. That same guy also will have us choose mirrors and towel bars, toilet paper holders, etc.

BUILDING TIMELINE:
Oct 8 (Day 1) - We signed our contract and everything is official!
Oct 9 (Day 2) - Expected ground breaking - delay with permit.
Oct 14 (Day 7) - Pick out front door (similar to this), interior doors, house molding, door knobs, and decking and siding.
Oct 15 (Day 8) - Fireplace picked
Oct 21 (Day 14) - Faucets, sinks, shower heads, toilets.  Also garage door.
Oct 23 (Day 16) - Cabinetry for the whole house - knobs and handles
Nov 5 (Day 29) - Ground breaking - hole digging and laying some foundation.
Nov 13 (Day 37) - Outside brick picked
Nov 18 (Day 42) - Cabinet place again - Changed our minds of the kitchen cabinets!
Nov 19 (Day 43) - Chose lighting, sort of because that was pretty hard. Still have to finalize some choices.
Week of Nov 24 (Day 53) - Pour concrete base - framing basement - finalize light choices and custom island color, custom hood vent and misc faucets.
Week of Dec 8 (Day 68) - Finishing up the framing and starting the roof. Plywood mostly put up all around the house. It's starting to look like a house.
Week of Dec 15 (Day 75) - Framing complete and ready for siding. Roof almost finished. Electrical walk-through, still deciding on lights.  Electrical rough-in and instal of fireplace. Tubs in bathrooms.
Week of Dec 22 (Day 82) - Inspections. Insulation and drywall will be up this week. Final interior finishes picks.
Week of Jan 5 (Day 96) - Siding, finishing drywall.
Week of Jan 19 (Day 110) - Cabinets being delivered, Trim going up

Monday, January 19, 2015

Baking with Noah - Our Weekend

I find that when I'm alone with Noah, sometimes the time drags on and I find myself looking for things to do around the house to keep us busy. Typically we do a lot of cleaning and cooking, and this weekend we spent a lot of time in the kitchen as usual.  Noah was a huge helper making muffins and an amazing chocolate chip cookie & cheesecake bar.  I would put all the ingredients in the bowl and he would sit and help me mix them and of course he was constantly trying to eat it all. I kind of let him go for it.  We made the bars for the contractors working on our house, but they wont know Noah dipped his spatula in the bowl.  Plus they tasted pretty amazing.


I've been doing much better working out more consistently and Aunt Molly has been great in helping watch Noah so I can get those workout in.  Sometimes though, Noah just wants to join in on the fun so he'll come in the basement with me and watch me run on the treadmill or do some Jillian workouts.  Of course, what mama does so does child, so this weekend Aunt Molly tried to teach Noah how to jump like mommy.  Lets just say he's not quite getting the concept yet, but his efforts are high. 

The great part about Noah joining in on the fun is that I can almost get a full workout in with Noah running around and it's just one more thing to keep us busy when we're together.  We're not quite there when it comes to the treadmill as he's trying to get on with me, but a couple more months and I'm sure DocMcStuffins will take care of that problem.  I love that the older he gets the easier it gets for me. 

Monday, January 12, 2015

Nineteen Months

Can I just say Noah is huge?  The kid has been eating non stop this month and he's big and heavy.  I don't even feel like I'm cuddling a toddler anymore, it's like a little child. And he is getting much cuter every day.  His personality is really starting to come out.  He loves to help me around the house.  He will sweep the kitchen with me and give me the dust pan when I need it.  He will help me mop and empty the dishwasher.  He loves to clean his highchair tray after meals and will even clean his own hands if they get too dirty.  He is his mothers son. He just loves to do things that make people laugh.  If he figures something out that's funny he will do it over and over.  He is really into scaring people and will hide behind couches and walls and say "da da da!" instead of "Bo!" but will do it non stop even if there aren't people around to scare.

Our dance parties are major around here.  He will dance to anything.  A commercial, the wii games, movies and obviously any music on our phones.   He will dance alone but loves to get anyone else to dance with him so when we're at home if you're not on the kitchen floor he will come up behind you and push you to get up and dance with him.  Even guests at our house aren't of the hook.

  • Stats: Size 5 Diapers | 2T clothing
  • Size: 31.5lbs
  • New Abilities: He's figured out how to climb on the couch if someone else is on it.  He will use that person to hoist himself up.  He's getting really good at body parts and will point to non basic parts like ankle, knee, elbow, etc. His use of the spoon and fork are getting really good.  Especially the spoon.  Not as much cleaning up after meals which is super nice. 
  • New Words: Nothing new this month. We have an appointment with a therapist that's coming to the house to take a look at him so we'll see what she has to say.
  • Sleep: So crazy sleep last month and we though it would get better but it just got even worse.  He is for sure on one nap now but will only last about an hour.  I really think he needs to sleep at least two but I guess he's the boss.  He refuses a second, now that the first is mid-day.  His night sleep has never been worse.  He's been such a good sleeper since forever; always sleeping 12+ hours but for the last four weeks he's been getting up in the middle of the night once or twice and will non stop scream his lungs out.  Looking on the internet it seems to be pretty common as there is a 18mo sleep regression.  We've checked on him here and there and even let him sleep in our bed a couple of times but most of the time the only thing that seems to work for us is crying it out. (For like an hours or more... it's terrible)   The good news is that the last three- four days have been more encouraging.  He's going down to bed with much less fussing and will only make minimal noise, or just be up for less than a half hour.  Last night he went down no problem and slept 12.5 hours... soooo, maybe this is on it's way out?!  I sure hope so.
  • Mom Check-In: The long two weeks of winter break were great for a nice re-set.  I spent much needed quality time with the hubby and I was ready to head back to work. I've started the year off nice with some good workouts on the treadmill and a little Jillian.  Hopefully tone up a little before the summer although for the most part I feel pretty good.  Not much for us on the schedule for the next couple of months so I guess we'll be spending lots of time at home.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

House Update - Drywall

A lot of things were done during Christmas break over at the house.  The drywall is up and almost done.  The rooms are really starting to come together.  Jeff and I stopped by the house to check out the master closet.  I'm already thinking of a million ways to organize every single inch of that space. The problem with the closet is I have no idea where I want to put the bars that hold the clothes and where all the shoes should go.  We obviously want to maximize the space as best as possible and for me, I want lots of hanging space! This is what I have so far but I guess we'll see what the closet guy says.  Maybe he has better ideas.

This week we should also see the siding go up so at least the outside of the house will be almost done, other than the stone.  Once the drywall is done I'm assuming that's when all the fun stuff will start going in and when I'll have much more fun pictures to show. 


1. Entryway from the front door
2. Entryway from living room
3. Kitchen; Pantry on right.
4. Pantry on the left, mudroom on the right
5. Living room from the kitchen

BUILDING TIMELINE:
Oct 8 (Day 1) - We signed our contract and everything is official!
Oct 9 (Day 2) - Expected ground breaking - delay with permit.
Oct 14 (Day 7) - Pick out front door (similar to this), interior doors, house molding, door knobs, and decking and siding.
Oct 15 (Day 8) - Fireplace
Oct 21 (Day 14) - Faucets, sinks, shower heads, toilets.  Also garage door.
Oct 23 (Day 16) - Cabinetry for the whole house - knobs and handles
Nov 5 (Day 29) - Ground breaking - hole digging and laying some foundation.
Nov 13 (Day 37) - Outside brick
Nov 18 (Day 42) - Cabinet place again - Changed our minds of the kitchen cabinets!
Nov 19 (Day 43) - Chose lighting, sort of because that was pretty hard. Still have to finalize some choices.
Week of Nov 24 (Day 53) - Pour concrete base - framing basement - finalize light choices and custom island color, custom hood vent and misc faucets.
Week of Dec 8 (Day 68) - Finishing up the framing and starting the roof. Plywood mostly put up all around the house. It's starting to look like a house.
Week of Dec 15 (Day 75) - Framing complete and ready for siding. Roof almost finished. Electrical walk-through, still deciding on lights.  Electrical rough-in and instal of fireplace. Tubs in bathrooms.
Week of Dec 22 (Day 82) - Inspections. Insulation and drywall will be up this week. Final interior finishes picks.
Week of Jan 5 (Day 96) - Siding, finishing drywall

Monday, January 5, 2015

Christmas Break Re-Cap

I'm finally back at work today and although I had a great two weeks off with lots of fun and family it's definitely time to get back at it.  I thought a re-cap of Christmas would be a great way to start the week back up.

When we last left of we were just about ready for Christmas and man did we do it up this year.  We saw both sides of both Jeff and my family which meant a little traveling here are there for us.  We were lucky enough that all the gatherings were within an hour driving distance so at least that was nice. There was still no snow until after Christmas which after the major downpour in November was super crazy.  We had some mild weather and a couple of days were in the 50s so we could walk outside without coats.  It sure was nice for Noah to be able to spend some time outside.  As of this morning though we're back to snow and a wind chill of -10!  That's more like it.


After all of our Christmas celebrations Jeff surprised me with a couple of days to Chicago without Noah which he kept under wraps for over three months.  He's such a good planner and a thoughtful husband.  It was so nice to get away for a couple of days, do some shopping, relaxing and spending some good quality time together. We really didn't take too many pictures of our trip since it was all about us but I did sneak of to instagram a couple.  You can check them out here. My most favorite part of the trip had to have been the food we ate.  We always check out new restaurants when we go to Chicago and first on my list was RPM Italian.  It did not disappoint.  I'm a huge fan of Giuliana & Bill so it was nice to see their restaurant which was super classy, but the best was the amazing food.  We left stuffed!  My other favorite of the vacay was XOCO which makes churros fried to order and if you know me, you know I cannot pass up a chance for legit churros and mexican chocolate.  Overall, it was a successful vacation for Jeff and I and it was great being back in Chicago.  My most favorite city ever.

When we got back we still had a couple of days left of vacation so we did the typical cleaning, laundry making lots of leftovers for this week and finally taking down the tree.


Although the break was much needed and lots of fun, it sure is nice to be back to work.
Is it weird I miss my coworkers? =)